Pants police.

• Author: Balko, Radley
• Position: Say no to crack - Legislative bill against saggy pants - Brief article

IN FEBRUARY 2005, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill to make saggy pants a criminal offense. Under the proposed law, pants that reveal your undergarments would have been punishable by a $50 fine. "It's not about individual fights; it's about values," explained the bill's sponsor, Del.Algie Howell Jr. (D-90th District). "The way you dress does have something to do with how you behave."

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After the bill made national headlines and inspired national ridicule, the state Senate rejected it. But Howell may get the last laugh.

The Christian Science Monitor reported in June that organizers in Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville, and Birmingham have all staged anti-sagging rallies, where high-waistline activists hand out belts to saggy-pants offenders. The Associated Press reported in September that many cities are considering their own droopy-drawers...